Only 14 kilometers of water separate Spain from Morocco, but the geographical proximity to its southern neighbor does not translate into a thorough knowledge of its football, eager to cross the border of the round of 16 from Mexico in 1986 during the World Cup in Qatar, his best result to date. The two teams arrive at different moments of emotion: Morocco finished at the top of a group in which Belgium and Croatia started as favourites. And Spain reached elimination by losing with Japandisappointing expectations raised by his brilliant debut against Costa Rica.

Does that make the North African team the favourite? “Spain continues to be, even if considering what happened on the last day, phew!” Juan Pedro Benali of Cartagena, one of the Spaniards who knows Moroccan football best, sniffles doubtfully on the phone. He has coached five top teams, with which he was a Throne Cup semi-finalist, Arab Cup runner-up and third in the league. “I first went there in 1999, and football has changed a lot since then. People live it more, it’s a bit more professional, with more organized teams and the federation has invested a lot”, he explains.

Ángel Viadero de Santander, another Spanish coach who embarked on the Moroccan adventure, has the same perception. “Their football is changing by leaps and bounds, as is the country, but it is still very much a virgin. They are street players. I remember traveling through towns and villages and seeing children playing on the roads day and night. This street game that we may have lost in Spain”.

The data speaks of a Moroccan team open to the world. The vast majority were educated in Europe. And 14 of them were even born outside their country, notably in the Netherlands and Belgium, but also in Spain, as in the cases of Achraf Hakimi (Madrid) and Munir Mohamedi (Melilla). This is the consequence of being a country of emigrants which has been exporting labor for decades, as it has also been felt in the stadiums of Qatar because a large Moroccan community lives there.

The performance of the Atlas Lions did not surprise Benali, who followed live his last two friendly matches before the World Cup (a draw against Paraguay and a victory against Chile). “I think it’s the best generation in Moroccan football, there are a lot of players in very important leagues,” he pleads. He knows the coach, Walid Regragui, well, whom he has faced in the past. Of him, he emphasizes that “defensively he is very good, then in front he leaves freedom”. About the star, there is no doubt, Chelsea striker Hakim Ziyech, author of the 1-0 against Canada. But he also sees gaps and weaknesses that Spain can exploit. “They are slow behind, especially the captain, Romain Saiss, then the full-backs Achraf and Mazraoui tend to come up and leave space behind them.” Imagine the match like this: “Morocco will wait behind with a 4-1-4-1 and En Nesyri trying to get the ball out. If Spain tries to enter, it will suffer. He must try to open up to groups”.

The Cantabrian Viadero, who led Atlético Tetuán in 2019, praises his solidity. “Morocco is not going to disarm. He will wait for the moment to bite the bone. Spain are the favourites, although they are less expert than on other occasions. The key is whether he learned from what happened against Japanbecause the script may be similar”.

Carlos Alós from Tarragona is a football globetrotter. Currently, he leads the Rwanda team, but has trained in Hong Kong, Poland, Cyprus, Qatar or Kazakhstan. A good season in the latter country caught the attention of FAR Rabat. And there he left in 2019. He was a neighbor of Regragui, with whom he had relations. “He is a very strict coach. His teams always have a lot of order. They don’t have as much quality as the Spaniards, but they compensate with tactical and physical discipline. They will come out very quickly towards the contras and towards the open space”.

He highlights two qualities: the ability to punish the opponent’s defeats and his defensive seriousness when he takes the lead – he only conceded one goal. “When there are losses, Morocco’s transitions are going to be very quick, and they can do us a lot of damage. In positional attack, they won’t create many problems for us, but if they score first, it will be very difficult to open up their defense,” he predicted.

“They leave their soul”

Morocco’s good performance also came as no surprise to Real Valladolid, where Jawal El-Yamiq plays, a central defender who had bench minutes in two World Cup matches, but also veteran defender Zou Feddal and the midfielder Anuar Tuhami. It was on Regragui’s previous roster until he suffered an injury that sidelined him. “For a lot of people it’s surprising, but I knew they would be tough. They have very high level players, some had gone unnoticed”, he explains.

Anuar praises the retreat and his way of defending. “They leave their soul when they lose a ball,” he says. Pucela’s youth team believe this strength through the center can hamper Spanish combinations between the lines, and if they steal fast they can do damage at the back with Ziyech, Achraf or En-Nesiry. On the other hand, Luis Enrique’s men have possession in their favor. “If they move the ball from side to side it will be a long game for them and they can get desperate. Morocco will try to smear the game and come out against them,” predicts Anuar, who values ​​unity of the group around the coach after the anguish of times past: “There is a lot of feeling for the country and a lot of desire”.

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